Mark Walsh reports that the buzz from the recent RBC Capital Markets conference was relatively, all-things-being-equal, apocalypse-postponed, bullish for Q3 of this year. Walsh paraphrases a research note by saying, "most online ad industry executives expect the third quarter to mark a turning point in the industry's rebound from recessionary trends." Walsh adds that RBC hedged their bets regarding display due to regulatory concerns around behavioral ads (yawn), but RBC offered an estimate that behavioral accounts for $1.8 billion of the $9 billion online display marketplace. Always handy to have estimates, don't you think?

Not so fast, the Wall Street Journal's Emily Steel has the world worrying with "Web Ad Sales Open Door to Viruses." The subhead is even better: "Complex System of Middlemen, Resellers, Auctions Creates Vulnerabilities." Oof. But, a great quote from Alex Gounares, a VP at Microsoft, who said this regarding malicious ads, spyware, etc., "I don't know if it will ever go away. The world has evildoers." (roll tape with spooky music.)